A Brief Capture
by Bass2013
Summary: My first Fan Fiction, basically Katara gets into a little trouble. Its a one-shot so don't expect a sequel.


***This is the first time I've even tried to write a Fan fiction so please be honest in your reviews***

A soft whisper ran through the forest; seeming to track her flight. But she couldn't hear it over her ragged breath and pounding feet; that and the rustle of her pursuers arching through the trees behind her. The material of her dress was tattered; shredded by her desperate run through brambles and other underbrush. All she had done was stay behind to forage for firewood while her friends hunted for berries and nuts; maybe a rabbit-squirrel or pig-deer if Sokka managed to get away from Aang. But now she was fleeing from the three who had been chasing her and her friends for months. She glances behind her; knowing she won't see anything but the leaf littered grass. Her pursuers were in the trees; how they manage to chase her at the pace she was going was a mystery to her, but somehow they were. "Katara!" Aang's voice calls from somewhere behind her. She can't turn back; that would only put her in the ideal position to be ambushed. "Aang, help!" She calls as loud as her raw throat will allow. She should have known better than to set up camp so far from the water. She was running in the vague direction that she remembered seeing a creek in. The rustling ceases and she turns around; no one is there. Either they stopped chasing her or something bad is about to happen. There's a small clearing up ahead if she can just get to it… a root catches her foot and she falls; seeing everything in crystal clarity. Just as she hits the ground, a figure in pink lands on her and chi blocks her. Ty Lee; Azula and Mai can't be far away. "Let me go." Her voice comes in small gasps; she's fighting for breath because a) she's been running for miles and b) Ty Lee has her arm securely placed against her throat. "Now that's just not an option, is it you little water bending brat?" What parts of her she can still control stiffen at the chilling voice. "Azula, you can't get away with this. You're miles away from the nearest place you could keep me and Aang is already looking for me." She tries to keep her voice from shaking; Azula won't let her go until she has Aang. And Katara can't let that happen. "Are you sure about that?" Azula asks. She nods as vigorously as she can; she won't fall for Azula's mind games. "Katara!" This time it's Sokka's voice that's calling for her. "I'm here! Help!" She yells at the top of her lungs. A shruikan slices the ground next to her throat, severing the blue ribbon of her necklace. Mai emerges from the shadows, "The next one won't miss." Katara snaps her mouth shut, _please hurry Aang._ She doesn't know if Toph's with them or not; she could still be out foraging for food. She would feel a lot better if Toph was. "Katara, Toph can't feel you, you need to move a little bit!" Oh, so Toph was with them. She tries to move her fingers and toes but they're still not obeying her. Pieces of her hair have fallen in her face. "Hey," She says; trying to keep her voice down, "would one of you get this hair out of my face?" She blows frustratedly at the wisps; she needs to sell this. "Sure!" Ty Lee says happily; Azula and Mai would cut her hand off if she touched THEIR hair. She brushes Katara's hair out of her face; unaware that she's giving Toph exactly what she needs to find Katara. "We can't move her until that stupid earth bender is out of range." Azula says accusatorily; she seems to blame the other two for Toph's apt earth bending skills. "So what do we do? We can't move because she'll pick up any move we make…" Mai's normally indifferent expression breaks; she just realized what Ty Lee had done by brushing Katara's hair out of her face. "We need to go now if we want to keep her prisoner!" Azula stares kind of stupidly at Mai's overly pale face before understanding dawns on her's. "You, you, you brat!" Azula sputters like a nearly drowned cat. Katara widens her eyes in her most sarcastic innocent face, "What? I just couldn't STAND having hair in my face." By now she can hear her friends' heavy footsteps pounding on the forest floor. "We need to go NOW!" Mai repeats, her voice betraying how nervous she is. Not for the obvious reason but because she knows darned good and well Zuko will be with them and she just can't stand that; she already betrayed Azula once and that's not a mistake she wants to make again. Ty Lee wretches Katara's arm behind her back and yanks her to her feet. The pain is next to unbearable; she had injured that shoulder during her morning water bending practice but had gotten distracted before she could heal it. "Watch it!" She snarls; Ty Lee may be small, but she's strong for her size. Ty Lee's eyes widen; she's too nice for what Azula has dragged her into. "Sorry." She says sincerely. Azula pulls out a length of rope to bind Katara's wrists with, but before she can walk over and tie it, the blue and silver boomerang that Katara had teased her brother about so many times, comes flying in and snatches it from Azula's hand, proceeding to embed itself in a nearby tree. Katara, now able to control all her limbs, stomps her heel down hard on Ty Lee's toes and, once released, bends the sweat she had built up (something she had hoped she'd never have to do again) to form a water whip. She doesn't strike immediately, only backs up so that she's with her friends again. Azula has regained her composure and jumps straight into lighting the forest ablaze with her special brand of blue fire. "You should have known better." She snarls at Sokka, bending a straight and immensely powerful streak of flame at him. Katara gasps; she does love her brother, even if he is REALLY annoying at times. But seconds before the flames hits Sokka, Zuko diverts it. "Now Zu Zu, we both know you can't beat me. If anything, the circumstances of your banishment prove that." Azula hit a low blow, all of them know that, but Zuko's face remains impassive. "So? It's 5 against 3. It's not just you against me." In the amber glimmer of his good eye, there is steely resolve. Azula wavers; all of the gaang know she's weighing whether or not to risk imprisonment by fighting or the just run. Ty Lee and Mai have already retreated to the edge of the clearing; they know the odds of beating a nearly fully realized Avatar and 3 other benders, not to forget the boomerang throwing Sokka, aren't good. "Let's go." This is out of character for Azula; normally she would fight a saber-toothed moose-lion before she would back down. But, without further ado, the three Fire Nation girls retreat into the dappled shade of the trees.

***So what did you think? I honestly want to know so feel free to comment. I don't think it was that good but I'll try and improve with each piece. Oh, I almost forgot. Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, which belongs to Mike and Bryan.***


End file.
